Stalag 17

 

We have Thomas Sullivan  Magnum to thank for recommending this film

How did Animal- stand the cold dressed only in long johns He is soaked in mud a few times too. The film is set in that horrible winter of 1944 offscreen Patton is about to relive the Americans at Bastogne

  I wonder if Animal is the blueprint for Belushi's character in Animal House - This film is also the inspiration for Hogans's Heroes 

I liked the ping pong balls- smoke bomb sequence- Thank you Towering Inferno

There is an extended scene of men dancing together-even some cutting in and such. One character dresses up as Betty Grable. It was a more innocent time. One character has been cuckolded and is trying to talk himself into it  The narrator Cookie also seems quite a mild mannered man to be a Sgt 

Even in World War Two soldiers could not keep up with their car payments

There is a character with shell shock-or battle fatigue

 Though this is sometimes played for laughs. It gets deadly serious at time. The machine gunning of the escapees is not cricket

Lt Dunbar being tortured by simple sleep deprivation is a saddening sight. Also interestingly Lt Dunbar becomes a saboteur once he sets fire to the train- and thus not under the protection of Geneva. The film features a visit of a Red Cross inspector- who notes that there will be war crimes trials after the wall 

Interestingly  while there are Russians and Americans in this film Not British appear or Free French- a brief mention of Poles and Czechs happens 

Holden is excellent.